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Day 3

After re jigging the kit once again, we managed to get a better nights sleep. It was still awful but better than the previous night. I woke around half 7. Omar was still asleep, so, for a laugh, I decided to get the video camera and wake him up on film. As I was clambering over all the boxes in the van, with the video camera poised and ready to go, I was just about to wake him when I heard a tap on the bus window. It was Dave the garage owner with a very puzzled look on his face! He stumbled to get the words 'ill start work on your van in 20 minutes' out of his mouth, before scurrying away! Heaven knows what he thought we were up to!

By 8 am the bus had its wheels off and the parts had been ordered. They had to come from Exeter, some 80 miles away, but we didn't care, we were making progress.

We haven't heard much from the others today we're guessing they've got their heads down and going for it. Its a good 80 miles for them. We did hear that Bev and Jo managed to get lost so at least not all the bad luck is lying with me and Omar! 

The wheels on the bus go round and round!

 After yet more hanging around, the parts finally arrived at half two. And by half four we were finally on our way to the overnight stop just north of Wellington. The girls knew that we were coming but we told the lads that the parts hadn't arrived and it would be Wednesday before we would get to them. Our sneaky surprise worked! We walked into the village hall in West Buckland, Somerset just after half 7. The boys didn't suspect a thing. Keith didn't even recognise us! They were so pleased to see us! It was great. The forgotten two were finally reunited with the rest of the team!

Omar and I had our first hot meal of the day before we sorted the vans out and re packed them. Matt, the copper who sorted out tonight's accommodation had left us two big bottles of local  cider! They didn't last long!

Hopefully all our problems are behind us now and we can complete the challenge hassle free!

Everyone is Looking forward to seeing friends and family tomorrow in Hereford. It should be a good day.

Posted by John. 
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At one with nature

The van has come back

We had a good surprise today when both the lads arrived to meet us at our overnight stay at West Buckland Hall in Somerset. The van has now been fixed and looking at the bots that were taken off I think we were pretty lucky to have survived the journey to Land's End. A visit to the tyre changing place may be in order upon our return.

The last two days have been really good riding. The majority of the riding has been on the dreaded A30 which wasn't that bad after all. The long hills we saw on the way back seemed to have disappeared on or way back. Yesterday was a quick 70 miles which we did in around four hours to finish at 2 pm at Launceston Police Station. They were quite understanding as they just left us a key fob to the door of the deserted station and were left to get in with it. That wouldn't have happened at Dudley! There was a decent tv room that we could watch the end of the latest Tour stage and eat our dinner. Sorry to the poor response Bobby who wanted to eat in peace.

Today was also a good run down the A30 which was a pleasure as the tail end Charlie just running along in the draft if the others. As we left the A30 I took the lead as I had the gps. I didn't tell the others that it wasn't going to last long as the low battery warning kept flashing up. I didn't want to worry them. They did wonder however why we were traveling so fast through Exeter I wanted to get through before it finally died. We made it, just and carried on through into Somerset where we were met by my police contact and were given an escort to our digs. Matt the Police Officer was given a hug when he produced two flagons of the local scrumpy. Very nice it was too.

After dinner the two boys arrived after we thought they weren't going to get to us until tomorrow at the earliest. A very welcome surprise. I am now watching them pack the van for tomorrow.

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The boys return

Day 1

The journey down to Cornwall was fairly uneventful apart from a significant mechanical failure with the minibus which meant it being towed 40 miles from Lands End to a garage just to the left of the middle of nowhere! For this reason, the Blogs have been fairly short. The fact that I have forgotten my laptop charger hasn't helped matters either!

Day 2

Today has started how day one finished, with the team split in two. The four cyclists, Bev and Jo had spent the night at the hostel in Penzance, while Omar and myself had roughed it in the minibus at the mechanics compound some 30 miles further up the road.

To say the least it was an uncomfortable night. I was lying on an air bed in the aisle, whilst Omar slept by the rear doors. All the kit had been piled onto the seats. It had rained during the early hours, so the sound of raindrops pounding the roof disturbed what little sleep we managed to get. I woke around 8ish and stepped outside the van into the open air compound. It was good timing as the garage owner was walking over to inspect the bus. 'Are you waiting here until its fixed'? He asked, to which we replied yes. 'Well your in for a wait then!' Our hearts sank. He went on to say how he had some other jobs booked in this morning but he would try and have a look later. But to be fair, the fact that he was even at work on a Sunday gave us some hope. We were basically waiting for him to jack the bus up, replace one of the wheels and some studs. All of which he would need to order. With Omar being an ex mechanic, he had an insight into the world of fixing vehicles, and we have prepared ourselves to be here until at least Tuesday afternoon at the earliest! However, to pile on the pressure, the minibus would need to be in Herefordshire by Tuesday afternoon in order to transport the bikes to the overnight stop-Pauls caravan, some 15 miles off route. And as the lads will have cycled 100 or so miles already on Tuesday, the bus needs to be back on the road and with them by then!

The waiting game.

We were in regular contact with the others, and we had been hearing tales of their previous evening of drinking Gin and wine and certain people walking around in their pants! Maybe that will get explained in another Blog! The cyclists left Penzance at around half 8, and we had arranged with the girls for them to come to us and sort the kit out, so we had enough to last us a few days and the rest of the team could carry on without us. They were a welcome sight when they arrived at half nine. Omar and I took the little van into Newquay-just 7 miles up the road- fuelled it up and got some bits and bobs to keep us going. Meanwhile, Bev and Jo raided the minibus of all the essentials that the boys required. We got back to the compound around half 10, we re-packed the little van and walked the short distance to the A30 just in time to see the boys cycle past us. They looked great. All four in a perfect line. We later found out that they had averaged 16 mph today! Bev and Jo hopped in the van and went after them. That was it. We were now truly on our own! Who knows when and where we will see them again?

The forgotten two.

Omar and I spent the next couple of hours tinkering with the kit and sorting the van out to make it a bit more homely. We had better air beds and a little bit more room-not quite enough to swing a cat though! The compound we are in, in a nutshell is a gravelled car park filled with written off cars. In the field next to us is full of strawberries-to which we are contemplating swiping some later on tonight! We have a hosepipe and a bush which is doubling up as a toilet and that's it! The nearest shop is 1.5 miles away, but we do have Omar and Bevs bike with us so its not too bad. We bought a kettle from Newquay, however, Paul's power pack is flat so that has put an end to a nice cuppa and the pot noodles we picked up! With nothing to do, we did the only thing we could think of-a little afternoon nap. Omar sprawled out in the bus while I made the most of the sunshine and dozed on keiths camp bed-circa 1970 something by the looks of it!

To try and beat the cabin fever we cycled the mile and a half to the shop/petrol station. At 4 pm we had our first hot drink of the day! Omars bike was slipping the gears, so we had a go at fixing it, and so far it seems ok! That killed an hour anyway! We spoke to one of the recovery drivers from the garage and he said if all goes well, his boss is looking at getting us back on the road tomorrow. That gave us a huge lift, however, until we are up and running we are not getting our hopes too high.

We have managed to get a bit of charge into Paul's power pack-using our cunning, ingenuity and resourcefulness- so we are keeping our fingers crossed that there's enough juice to boil the kettle and get some noodles down our neck!

Hopefully tomorrow will bring some good news!

Posted by John.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

First Day

I am updating this with my iPhone so please excuse any spelling mistakes. These things are quite a fiddle.
We have managed to cycle 10 miles. This is good news as we are very comfortable in our digs for the night at the YHA at Penzance.
The bad news is that our lovely minibus is broken. It went in for a change of tyre yesterday and the wheel wasn't put back on properly. Luckily the wheel didn't fall off on motorway. The bad news is it can't be fixed until Tuesday!!! John and Omar are now "living rough" in the van until it can be fixed whilst the four riders and two remaining support crew carry on as best they can.
What a nightmare!! I'm having a glass of gin to help me sleep and forget about the stress of it all.
Tris ( stressed )
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